


I Forgive, You Nothing

by Tell_me_about_it_shug



Series: And it's in the quality of the Gods [8]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Ares is Hera's favorite son, Child Abuse, F/M, Forced Marriage, Ganymede is baby, I hate Hera but i also love her, Inaccurate Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Abuse, Underage Rape/Non-con, Zeus Being an Asshole (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Zeus is a cunt, Zeus really fucked Hera up like emotionally, she has done fucked up shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:20:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27320341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tell_me_about_it_shug/pseuds/Tell_me_about_it_shug
Summary: Zeus is hungry and Hera is beautiful and full of divine purpose and she will be that way for forever and an eternity.She can feel the tar in her throat fill her lungs.She cant breathe
Relationships: Ganymede/Zeus, Hera/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Series: And it's in the quality of the Gods [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607104
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	I Forgive, You Nothing

When he first asks her to marry him she doesn't say no but she also doesn't say yes. It's not like she had a choice, to begin with. 

She is young and beautiful and she will be that way for forever and an eternity. She is flush with purpose and drive; it's the turn of a new era, a titanless era, and the earth is new and dense with beauty and she and her sisters are free to roam it, running barefoot and wild as they please. 

She is laying in the grass when he comes to her under the guise of an injured bird. Her dark hair is thick and loose and it curls in the heavy heat of the sun. Her chest heaves and sweat pools at the back of her knees and dimples her forehead. It was early in the morning but the sun was already high and the heat heavy.

She sprawls out in the grass and basks in the sun. She smiles lazily as she allows the heat and the thick air to lull her into a state of semi-consciousness. She drifts between sleep and consciousness for hours, content to spend the rest of the day laying in the sun.

The trill warble of a bird cuts through her sleepy haze. The bird sounds again, higher this time and panicked. She sits up and any thought of sleep is gone. The bird is loud and she finds it easily, the poor thing had tucked itself under the large expanse of a tree, its left-wing bent so horribly she can't stop the hitch in her breath. The bird startles at the sight of her, its feathers ruffle and it shrieks terribly. 

Zeus plays his roles well.

She moves slowly, kneeling to offer her hand to the bird, cooing softly, "Come out little one. I won't hurt you." It moves warily, walking awkwardly and jerking its little head in every direction, letting out little warbles. 

She cooes softly when it brushes against her hand. "How did you end up like this? Who hurt you little one?" She pets its little head with the pad of her finger.

All it would take is a gentle brush of her fingers to mend the bird's wing and she would have done so if it weren't for the iron grip suddenly incasing her arm. Feather and beak melt into skin and muscle. Zeus is frightening; even on his knees he towers over her, everything about him his golden and bright but his eyes and the smell he brings with him, both like the darkened sky when a storm begins to brew.

"Hello Hera," He says and he's smiling, wide and all teeth, but he doesn't let her go. 

He takes in her face and her body sees the open fear in her eyes and feels the slight tremors in her arms and legs. Her mouth is parted in surprise and fear and he drinks it in. His eyes darken with something she doesn't want to think about and he licks his lips and teeth like he's hungry.

"Your majesty." She says and bows as well as she's able. 

She is a goddess in her own right, born of divine purpose and powerful. But Zeus is the King and the last time she spoke to him she had denied him her hand.  
—  
"Are you saying no?" He had asked, voice soft. He doesn't look her in the eye. There was a note of danger in his voice and she had hurried to placate him.

She has never had to be so careful around anyone else like this before. Not since the demise of her father, but it's all in the same she supposes; Zeus looks just like their father, handsome and towering with soulless eyes.

"No!" She said quickly, "It's a "not now". We have an eternity. We have all the time in the world."

There's is a pregnant pause and Zeus does not respond.

She shifts nervously. "I just want to enjoy the freedoms of maidenhood a little longer." 

Zeus nods and there is a stiffness to him that makes her stomach spoil; he is tense and his hands are balled so tight the veins throb, his lips are pulled tight, and when had finally looked her in the face his eyes were dark and not with the normal hunger they typically held when he looked at her.

"I see." Was all he said before leaving her. The feeling in her stomach hadn't left her for weeks. That meeting was months ago and she hadn't seen him since.  
—  
"Please, drop the formalities." He says, "My wife should be able to call me by my name." He loosens his grip on her wrist to rub his thumb on the bare skin.

She pushes down the full body grimace and fights to keep her face straight and clear of the repulsion that crawls up her spine. 

"I'm not your wife yet, Zeus." She says and from the way, Zeus' eyes darken and his lips twist that it was a mistake.

Any form of defiance is a mistake, even if that defiance is merely stating the truth, in the face of a King.

His face quickly clears of any displeasure and a look of calm softens his face but he can't change the darkness in his eyes.

"You would defy me again, Hera?" He asks softly, just like he did when she first said no to his marriage proposal. 

Repulsion and fear settle in her stomach like stones and her body jerks. Zeus is quick to trap her in his iron grip again, only this time he drags her closer. 

The sweat cools on her body unpleasantly and fear makes her heart stutter and breath heavy. She can feel his breath on her face. Trapped in Zeus' hold she is transported back into Kronos' stomach, breathing in tar and stuck in a state of not sleep but also not awareness. She clenches her eyes shut and she can hear the sound of her own elevated heartbeat. 

With the death of their tyrant father, her tyrant brother arises.

"Hera," He cooes, leaning forward to kiss her ear and jaw. "Sweet, Hera." 

The hand that isn't holding her wrist goes to her bare legs and up her thigh. She is frozen with fear but the heat of anger and repulsion come quickly. He moves from her to kiss her.

So she bites him.

He jerks back violently, momentarily distracted by the golden blood spilling from his lip and the sudden pain. She doesn't stay to watch him bleed, she's up in an instant, running as fast as her feet will carry her. 

The sky is darkening and she can't tell if it's because of her or Zeus.

"Hera!" Zeus yells, voice echoing across the valley like thunder. It shakes the ground and she can feel her bones vibrate.

She doesn't look back at him. She is fast but Zeus faster and he gains on her quickly. A sob tears through her chest because she knows she will not get away from him. Her demise was set in place the first time Zeus had looked at her with that vicious hunger in his eyes. 

He catches her. He yanks her by her hair throws her to the ground. Her head slams into the earth so hard her vision blurs. She tries to crawl away and Zeus laughs. He is upon her in seconds, catching her foot when she tries to kick him and forcing her legs apart, tearing her clothes.

"It really didn't have to be this way, Hera." He says. His hand is covering her mouth and she screams against it.

She claws against his arms and she bites the hand that's covering her mouth and she can taste his blood. He removes his hand from her mouth and brings it down heavily against the side of her face so hard there's a terrible cracking sound in her jaw and blood pools in her mouth, her vision slurs and spots and the world tilts. Her arms go limp and her body refuses to listen to her jumbled thoughts. Her head throbs and all she can do is lay there and cry and try not to choke on her own blood and tears. Zeus cooes at her and grips her broken jaw gently. 

"Oh, Hera," he says, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "I'm so sorry darling." And he says it so softly and earnestly she could have believed him; she was severely concussed and the entirety of her head was screaming in pain. 

He presses down on her jaw where it's already begun to swell and turn a deep red that promised bruising. She screams, or she tries to but it comes out wet and gurgled.

"This is your own fault, Hera." He says, low and smiling. 

Her body tears when he enters her and she can vaguely hear him talking

"If you weren't such a temptress, Hera." "I was going to be gentle with you, Hera. Why did you have to be so difficult?" "If you weren't so beautiful this wouldn't be happening." "Never deny me again, Hera." His voice eventually fades out and everything turns to static. 

She's back in the darkness of her father's stomach and she cant feel Zeus touching her anymore but the feeling of choking on tar and nothingness is horrible, she's sweating and cold at the same time and her body moving on its own accord. The tar fills her lungs and she can't breathe—

"Your majesty?"

She jerks on her throne, nearly dropping her empty goblet, breathing shallowly. She can feel her pulse drumming in her neck. There is drunken laughter all around her, nothing out of the ordinary at one of her husband's parties, all unaware, or pretending to be, of her plight. Her heart is slow to come down from its high and the sweat caused by her panic is already cooling. She hadn't had a flashback that graphic in years. What had triggered it?

There is a beautiful child at her feet, no older than 15, thick-lipped and soft thighed. He is holding a pitcher of rich wine. Right.

She stares at him blankly.

"Are you alright, your majesty?" He doesn't meet her gaze and he shifts nervously as if he's expecting her to eat him. He shifts again and now she can see yellow bruising on his thighs, and upon a better glance, she can see bruised crescents on his wrists. 

Ah. One of her husband's new toys. Her brows furrow and her lip instinctively curls into a sneer. She goes to run a hand through her hair and the boy flinches. "I'm fine." She says succinctly but not quite unkindly. 

"Cupbearer!" her husband's voice claps throughout the room like thunder even though it's filled with drunken merriment it makes both her and the boy flinch. The wine in the boy's pitcher sloshes sloppily.

"If you are done serving my wife, then come here." Zeus' face is red and his movements are slow. The boy is tense and slow to leave Hera's throne. He is shaking like he's too weak to support his own weight and Hera remembers not being able to walk once Zeus had his way with her body.

She remembers the brutality and shame of it. She had woken up later, jaw aching and feeling sick in her skin and besides the love for some of her children, she feels nothing now, or she thought she didn't. 

"Find another toy to play with husband, this one is busy," She says and Zeus is far too drunk to care. He is soon distracted by the other gods and more wine and beautiful cupbearers. 

She doesn't know why she spares him her from her husband. Maybe it's because he looks like a younger version of Ares before she let his father ruin him; soft skin and braided hair, though Ares' hair, was red where this boy was blonde but they both have hazel eyes that match her own.

"Thank you, Goddess," The boy says quietly, his legs are quaking and he must be in pain because she knows she defiantly was so she lets him sit and she pours her own wine.

"What is your name?" She asks him, and he finally looks her in the eye.

"Ganymede."

**Author's Note:**

> Im kinda proud of this one! Its all angst and it was very easy to write Zeus being an asshole.
> 
> I am incapable at writing fluff. I havent written a single happy thing but I will try next time. Maybe something about Ares and Apollo. 
> 
> Please leave comments! Tell me what you liked or didn't like or things I can work on.


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